Time Signature Close to dawn...

Genre: melodic metal/hard rock

"Second Sun" is the second album from Bosnian melo-metallers Heaven Rain, and this is a massively romantic and epic melodic metal album if there ever was one.

Drawing on melodic guitar riffs and quasi-symphonic keyboards, the tunes on "Second Sun" are certainly very melodic and quite epic without, I think, being power metal as such. Miona Graorac's quite unusual voice is features quite prominently, and her unique voice (which is very unusual for other female vocalists within the same genre) definitely adds an extra dimension of interestingness to the vocal melodies.

Amidst all the more rock and metal oriented music, there are some very epic and symphonic intermezzos such as "Close to Dawn" and the closer "At the End of Time" and intros and outros of various other songs. In a bold move, Heaven Rain insert some electronica elements every now and then into these intermezzos, and I think that works quite well. Even the piano ballad "Nowehere" has an epic feel to it.

I think that fans of symphonic metal and epic power metal as well as fans of romantic gothic metal will love this bombastic and melodic album. I also think that those who prefer more aggressive types of metal will dislike the album for the same reason. Although I probably belong to this latter group of metalheads, I do enjoy this album. It does not quite rock my world, but I like the progressive edge that tracks like "Raven In Heart" have, and, while the most bombastic parts strike me as being outright cheesy, it is also clear to me that Heaven Rain, being the skilled musicians they are, are good at what they do.

In all, "Second Sun" is a solid melodic metal effort which should appeal to fans of romantic gothic metal. It' bombastic and melodic, and if you like that in your metal, then do not hesitate to invest in this album.